The present invention relates generally to hair cutting devices having a moving cutting blade and a drive system, and specifically to hair clippers having a bladeset driven by rotary motor systems.
One type of electric hair clipper used for cutting hair employs an electric motor with an eccentric drive member secured to the armature. A linkage converts rotary motion to linear reciprocating blade motion.
Conventionally, a pivoting or reciprocating driving member is used to drive a moving clipper blade of a clipper bladeset in a laterally reciprocating fashion with respect to a static clipper blade. The driving member has a contact portion which contacts the moving blade to drive the blade through the reciprocating motion. A considerable amount of wear occurs at a contact portion of the driving member, causing the contact portion to wear down or fail, while the remainder of the driving member remains relatively structurally sound and intact.
Typically, once the contact portion or tip is worn down or has failed, additional operational noise and/or reduced stroke results, causing insufficient and/or inefficient cutting. A user then has to replace the entire driving member, requiring some degree of disassembly of the drive system, and usually the clipper housing, to gain access and replace the driving member. The replacement process typically can require excessive time to disassemble and reassemble the clipper. This process is not only time consuming, but is also labor intensive and requires some mechanical inclination. Additionally, disassembly and reassembly can lead to further product failure when other clipper components are misaligned and/or damaged during the replacement process.
Thus, there is a need for a driving member assembly for a hair cutting device which addresses the drawbacks of the prior art.